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| Landkreuzer P 1500 Monster | |
|---|---|
 Artist's rendition of the P.1500 Monster | |
| Type | Proposed super heavy self-propelled gun |
| Placeoforigin |  Nazi Germany |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 1,794t (1,978 short tons; 1,766 long tons) (800 mm gun variant) 801t (883 short tons; 788 long tons) (600 mm gun variant) |
| Length | 25 metres (82ft) (800 mm gun variant) |
| Width | 12.8 metres (42ft) (800 mm gun variant) |
| Height | 8.25 metres (27.1ft) (800 mm gun variant) |
| Crew | 100+ |
| Armor | 250 millimetres (9.8in) (hull front) 200 millimetres (7.9in) (hull sides) (800mm gun variant) |
Main | 1 × 800 mm gun OR 1 x 600mm mortar |
| Engine | 4 × Daimler-Benz MB.501 6,000kW (8,000hp) |
Operational | Unknown |
| Maximum speed | 7km/h (4.3mph) |
The Landkreuzer P 1500 Monster was a purported German pre-prototype super-heavy self-propelled gun designed during World War II. While it is mentioned in a number popular works about World War II projects, there is no solid documentation for the program’s existence, and it may have only been a semi-serious proposal, or even an outright hoax, much like the Panzer IX and Panzer X. [1]
Contents
- Development
- Issues
- See also
- Notes
- References
Development
On 23 June 1942, the German Ministry of Armaments proposed a 1,000-tonne tank—the Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte . Adolf Hitler expressed interest in the project and the go-ahead was granted. In December, Krupp designed an even larger 1,500 tonne vehicle—the P. 1500 Monster. The P. 1500 was to be 25m (82ft 0in) long, weighing 1,800 tonnes, with a 250mm hull front armour, four Daimler-Benz MB.501 diesel aero engines, and an operating crew of over 100 men. This "land cruiser” would have been a self-propelled platform for the 800 mm Dora/Schwerer Gustav K (E) gun artillery piece also made by Krupp—the heaviest artillery weapon ever constructed by shell weight and total gun weight, and the largest rifled cannon by calibre.
The Schwerer Gustav fired a 7-tonne projectile up to 37km (23mi) and was designed for use against heavily fortified targets. The main armament could have been mounted without a rotating turret. Such a configuration would have allowed the P. 1500 to operate in a similar manner to the original 800 mm railroad gun and Karl 600 mm self-propelled mortars, launching shells without engaging the enemy with direct fire.
Issues
Development of the Panzer VIII Maus had highlighted significant problems associated with very large vehicles, such as their destruction of roads/rails, their inability to use bridges and the difficulty of strategic transportation by road or rail. The bigger the vehicle, the bigger these problems became. In 1943, Albert Speer, the Minister for Armaments, cancelled both the Ratte and Monster projects due to obvious major problems.
See also
- Crawler-transporter, the largest self-propelled land vehicles ever built
- Bagger 293, a bucket-wheel excavator and the largest land vehicle ever built by weight
- The Captain, Big Muskie and Bagger 288, previous land vehicle record holders for weight
- Overburden Conveyor Bridge F60, the largest land vehicle ever built by physical dimensions
Notes
- ↑ Estes 2014, pp.36–37.
Related Research Articles
An armoured fighting vehicle or armored fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Examples of AFVs are tanks, armoured cars, assault guns, self-propelled artilleries, infantry fighting vehicles (IFV), and armoured personnel carriers (APC).
The Panzerkampfwagen IV, commonly known as the Panzer IV, is a German medium tank developed in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 161.
The Jagdpanzer 38, originally the Leichter Panzerjäger 38(t), known mostly post-war as Hetzer, was a German light tank destroyer of the Second World War based on a modified Czechoslovakian Panzer 38(t) chassis.
Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus was a German World War II super-heavy tank completed in July of 1944. It is the heaviest fully enclosed armored fighting vehicle ever built. Five were ordered, but only two hulls and one turret were completed, the turret being attached before the testing grounds were captured by advancing Soviet military forces.
Sturmgeschütz meaning "assault gun" was a series of armored fighting vehicles used by both the German Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS formations during the Second World War (1939–1945). The main StuGs were the StuG III and StuG IV based on the Panzer III and Panzer IV medium tank chassis respectively.
Schwerer Gustav was a German 80-centimetre (31.5in) railway gun. It was developed in the late 1930s by Krupp in Rügenwalde as siege artillery for the explicit purpose of destroying the main forts of the French Maginot Line, the strongest fortifications in existence at the time. The fully assembled gun weighed nearly 1,350 tonnes, and could fire shells weighing 7t to a range of 47km (29mi).
Nazi Germany developed numerous tank designs used in World War II. In addition to domestic designs, Germany also used various captured and foreign-built tanks.
The Panzerkampfwagen VII Löwe (Lion) was a design for a super-heavy tank created by Krupp for the German government during World War II. The project, initially code-named VK 70.01 (K), never left the drawing board, and was dropped on 5–6 March 1942, in favor of Porsche's heavier Panzer VIII Maus.
Wunderwaffe is a German word meaning "wonder-weapon" and was a term assigned during World War II by Nazi Germany's propaganda ministry to some revolutionary "superweapons". Most of these weapons however remained prototypes, which either never reached the combat theater, or if they did, were too late or in too insignificant numbers to have a military effect. The V-weapons, which were developed earlier and saw considerable deployment, especially against London and Antwerp, trace back to the same pool of highly inventive armament concepts. In the German language, the term Wunderwaffe generally refers to a universal solution which solves all problems related to a particular issue, mostly used ironically for its illusionary nature.
The P 26/40 was an Italian World War II heavy tank. It was armed with a 75mm gun and an 8mm Breda machine gun, plus another optional machine gun in an anti-aircraft mount. Design had started in 1940 but very few had been built by the time Italy signed the armistice with the Allies in September 1943 and the few produced afterwards were used by the Germans.
A landship is a large land vehicle that travels exclusively on land. Its name is meant to distinguish it from vehicles that travel through other mediums such as conventional ships, airships, and spaceships.
The Landkreuzer P. 1000 "Ratte" was a design for a 1000-ton tank to be used by Germany during World War II which may have been proposed by Krupp director Edward Grote in June 1942, who had already named it "Landkreuzer". Submitted designs and drawings of the vehicle went under the names OKH Auftrag Nr. 30404 and E-30404/1, which were presented in December 1942. The tank was planned to be 1000 tonnes, far heavier than the Panzer VIII "Maus", the heaviest tank ever built. The project gained the approval of Adolf Hitler, who had expressed interest in the development of the tank but was cancelled by Minister of Armaments Albert Speer in early 1943.
A super-heavy tank or super heavy tank is any tank that is notably beyond the standard of the class heavy tank in either size or weight relative to contemporary vehicles.
The Heuschrecke 10 was a German prototype self-propelled gun and Waffenträger developed by Krupp-Gruson between 1943 and 1944. The official designation of the vehicle was 105mm leichte Feldhaubitze 18/1L/28 auf Waffenträger Geschützwagen IVb and was to be built in Magdeburg, Germany. The Heuschrecke featured a removable turret which could be deployed as a pillbox or towed behind the vehicle as an artillery piece.
This article deals with the tanks serving in the German Army throughout history, such as the World War I tanks of the Imperial German Army, the interwar and World War II tanks of the Nazi German Wehrmacht, the Cold War tanks of the West German and East German Armies, all the way to the present day tanks of the Bundeswehr.
References
- Estes, Kenneth W (2014). Super-heavy Tanks of World War II. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1782003830.
- Article about the Ratte, Monster and related
- Überschwere Panzerprojekte, Michael Fröhlich, Motorbuch Verlag, 2016 ISBN 3613039257
